Improvement in indexes



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Index.-

N0,10,37. Patented March 2,1875.

THE GRAPHIC C0.PHOT0.L|TH.39&41 PARK PLAGEJLY.

UNITED 'STATES PATENT OFFICE..

CHARLES VIRGO, OF BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND, ASSIGNOR TO ARTHUR W. CARTER, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN INDEXES.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. l60,367, dated March 2, 1875 application filed November 12, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES Vince, of Bradford, Yorkshire, England, have invented a new and Improved Index-Book, of which the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention is intended to be used in connection with account-books, ledgers, public or private libraries, or in any other connection Where it will be of service. It may be an independent book, or may be inserted at the commencement or end of any book or document.

Its nature and operation in detail are fully described below.

In the accompanying illustration, Figure l represents an index embodying my invention opened at the letter N. Fig. 2 shows the same index opened at the last letter of the alphabet. Fig. 3 is a detached view of portions of some of the leaves.

In using an ordinary index, such as is common in business-ledgers, for example, the person examining it never has all the letters before him at the same time, excepting when he is consulting the letter A; consequently he is obliged continually to turn back to the commencement of the index in order/to be able to see the letter. Suppose, for example, an ordinary index lies open at the letter S, it is easy to find T, U, &c., because all letters of the alphabet which come after S are in sight; but suppose, the index being opened at S, he desires to find a name under H, B, E, or any other letter before S, he is obliged to turn back to the commencement, or at least to a point in the index before the desired letter before he can find the position of the letter sought. After that he can turn to the letter.

In this invention all the letters of the alphabet are continually in sight, and all the person using the index has to do is to turn to the letter which lies in plain vieu7 before him.

To book-keepers, librarians, and others in similar professions every saving of a motion of the hand or of a trilling search is of great value, as in the course of a week, or even a day, the time saved is appreciable.

The portions of the drawing marked 4. represent an ordinary book-cover. A, B, C, D, &c., are the leaves of an index. These leaves are pasted to the cover 4., and are all of the same actual width; but the pasted edge of each leaf is set at a sufficient distance from the corresponding edge of its neighbor as to allow of ample room for the printing of the letter which is to be exhibited upon the opposite edge. Of course, the leaves being of equal width, and all folding at the same distance from the pasted edge, the distances between their pasted edges must be the same as the distances between their free edges. This is illustrated in Fig. 3, where the distances between the pasted edges of leaves 6, 5, and 7 are the same as the distances between the free edges of the said leaves.

Of course, the leaves could be made of different widths, in which case the entire usefulness of the index would be controlled by the folding; but that would make a bungling device.

One-half the pasted edges face one side of the cover as it lies open, and one-half face the opposite edge, so that the edges of the two center leaves 8 and 9 are necessarily twice the distance apart of the other leaves, as they face in opposite directions. Each leaf has upon its left side a letter, and upon its right side the next succeeding letter, and the letter upon the left side of each leaf is the same as that upon the right side of the next preceding leaf. For example, leaf 8 is lettered N upon its right side and M upon its left, while leaf 9 has N upon its left side and O upon its right. The first and last leaves have but one side each which is lettered.

Thus it will be seen that a suitably-wide page is allowed for each letter, and, vwhatever the position of the leaves, all the letters are seen at once.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An index-book constructed of leaves so arranged that their front edges recede from each other :L suitable distance, so as to presame plane with the hase their free edges will sent t0 View one or more letters of the alpha.- recede from each other and expose their inbet at their heed-lines, which may be read dex character.

from right to left7 and vice versa.. CHARLES VIRGO.

2. A series of sheets attached at different Witnesses: points to a base or support, so that when WALTER JAS. TURNER,

folded down either to the right or left in the T. G. GHINN. 

